Think Like a King Chess Workout Family Package Reviews

Think Like a King Chess Workout Family Package

One CD contains a complete chess library for everyone to share – get all six Chess Workouts© with First Lessons in Chess©
First Lessons© is our basic tutorial for novices, whether young or old. Covering all the basic rules and moves, chess notation, opening strategy, tactics and common endgame scenarios
Think Like A King® series is the perfect starting point for those new to chess, from grade 3 to adult.
Dozens of animations, challenges and 165 interactive chess puzzles make learning a snap.
Chess tutorials are completely engaging and interactive.

First Lessons in Chess – a perfect way for reading-aged children grade 3 and up (or their parents!) to get started in chess. First Lessons is for players new to chess, whether young or old. Covering all the basic rules and moves, including chess notation, opening strategy, tactics and common endgame scenarios, this introduction to the Think Like A King learning series contains dozens of animations, challenges and 165 interactive chess puzzles that make learning a snap. Tactical Thinking-Master basic tactical concepts with an interactive tutorial designed to help players recognize strategic and tactical opportunities. From Pins to Forks and Skewers, Undermining to Overworking, basic tactical thinking is clearly defined and demonstrated via interactive puzzles. Simple text explanations and minimal reliance on chess notation make this a perfect teaching tool for beginning students. Checkmate Thinking -apply the tactical lessons learned above and add the next level of thinking (pattern recognition and combination attacks) to pursue the ultimate goal of Checkmate. Over 300 interactive checkmate problems that transform beginners into real chess thinkers!
Endgame Thinking – Everything may come down to the Endgame, and here’s where beginners have the most trouble. A course on the science of the end of the game, endings where clear thinking and careful play are critical. Learn the tactics of Pawn Promotion and the rules that let you create a winning position – or prevent your opponent from gaining one! Opening Thinking – a truly unique learning tool that explores the why and not just the how of opening play. Covering the common openings and variants, with Traps, Zaps and more.

Rating: (out of 7 reviews)

List Price: $ 129.95

Price: $ 64.95

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August 9, 2010

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Comments

5 responses to “Think Like a King Chess Workout Family Package Reviews”

Igor Khmelnitsky

August 9, 2010

Review by Igor Khmelnitsky for Think Like a King Chess Workout Family Package
Rating:
This is an excellent training tool for players of over 1300 USCF. Additionally, it offers exceptional value for your money providing 100s of hour of valuable training for a very modest price.

General comment on Tactical Training:

Mastering the Tactical training consists of fast and accurate recognition of standard tactical ideas (motifs) and ability to calculate. Your training should be split in two parts – learning the motifs and then improving you ability to calculate. In the early positions you will have to go through simple 1-2 moves tactics involving double attack, deflection, attraction, and other basic tactical motifs. As you progress – you will have to deal with multiple tactical ideas, longer variations and more resourceful defense.

The rating you get is more generous than it should have been, but nevertheless a good indicator of your progress.

This tool is ideal for practicing! I use this software regularly so do most of my students. In my new book “Chess Exam and Training Guide: Rate Yourself and Learn How to Improve”, I provide more information on how to use this tool as well as how to identify other suitable products for your training.

Good luck!

Copyrighted by me!
Andre L. Wilson

August 9, 2010

Review by Andre L. Wilson for Think Like a King Chess Workout Family Package
Rating:
Hello, a hoax has just been pulled either by AMAZON.COM on us or by CHESS CENTRAL on AMAZON.COM.

First, none of the reviews relate to the actual product “Think Like a King Chess Workout Family Package”. All of these reviews are reviews on another chess product- Convetka’s “CT ART 3.0”.

CT-ART 3.0

I recognize this because I own both pcs of software. Actually, the review by the “GAMESMAN” is an absolute schill. This fellow actually describes the “CT ART 3.0” product using the “Think Like a King” verbage like ‘workouts’ etc. That’s a real shame.

Now I will discuss the product “Think Like a King”. It is strictly a scholastic teaching pc of software. It is basically an interactive E-book reader. The graphical interface opens 1 of 7 E-books, the ‘workouts’. The graphical interface shows a board and a chess position; the text is on the right describing the subject, such as ‘en prise’ and the problem on the board. The user follows the directions of the text and often gets to make a move on the board.

This is not a Michael Dela Maza style tactics drill software like CT ART 3.0 is. It is a beginners introducutory course on chess which focuses on tactical elements. There are series of 10-20 chess problems for the user to answer at the end of each chapter (or lesson) in the books. It’s a fine pc of software for a child. Please go to […] to find out about the product.

I don’t want to tear the product down, but AMAZON and/or Chess Central is engaing in false advertising here. It’s a shame because myself and many others use these reviews as a guide for purchasing products.

AMAZON.COM please fix this!!!! Chess Central has made a mistake (or a deceptive calculation) AMAZON Pull the previous reviews from this product now.
Martin Gill

August 9, 2010

Review by Martin Gill for Think Like a King Chess Workout Family Package
Rating:
If you want to improve your chess playing, buy this program. In short, it will make you a better player.

Under a master standard level (2000 ELO) tactics is the name of the game, and this teaches them. There are over 1200 examples which are beautifully laid out, and there are friendly hints to guide you in the right direction should you not initially find the right solution.

In my opinion, this is one of the best purchases you can make if you want to improve your chess. Although after reading Michael De La Mazza’s Rapid Chess Improvement I was already a convert.
JavaMate

August 9, 2010

Review by JavaMate for Think Like a King Chess Workout Family Package
Rating:
I really like the way this program drastically improved my tactical vision by just solving about 100 “Grades By Difficulty” puzzles a day for a period of a few weeks (!). My rating on ICC went up about 100 points and, equally important, my confidence grows accordingly. Wonder what this will do to my future otb-rating (ELO).

Only two complaints:

1)When taking a test there’s no “counter” visible, so you don’t have a clue how many puzzles you still have to go (I like the way other programs of theirs – like “Intermediate Tactics” give information like “#5 of 50”).

2)When you make a few mistakes, a small window opens up, showing you a similar position as the one you’re trying to solve, which you can practice on, but… where the “main puzzles” have the (option of showing the) color you’re playing at the bottom of the board, these small “help boards” always show the position from the White side.

I find the above mentioned “shortcomings” annoying, but maybe it’s just me…

Overall, definitely a program worth buying, although I’d suggest you get “Total Chess Training”, which not only contains CT-ART 3.0, but also 4 other interesting programs (Encyclopedia of Middlegames, Encyclopedia of Opening Blunders, Studies 2.0 and Strategy 2.0) for about $95. There’s also a newer version of this product (“Total Chess Training 2”) available for the same price, here on Amazon.com
The Gamesman

August 9, 2010

Review by The Gamesman for Think Like a King Chess Workout Family Package
Rating:
For the amateur chessplayer, tactics = everything. If you’re a beginner or club-level player you’ll progress farther and faster by studing tactics than by studying any other facet of the game. ChessCentral’s Think Like a King offers the user more than 1000 tactical drills for practice (since the ability to spot tactical patterns in actual games relies much on pattern recognition — seeing familiar patterns in non-identical board positions). In addition to using these positions as just “tactics puzzles”, you can also play these positions out against the “Crafty” computer program which is included in the package. This truly is a “chess workout” and will help improve the play of nearly any chessplayer. It’s also a real “family package”: unlike many other chess software programs, ChessCentral’s “Think Like a King” makes provision for multiple individual user logins.

Think Like a King Chess Workout Family Package Reviews